Photography for Geoscientists

Why a Geologist Should Know The Basics of Photography

--Arindam Biswas

We, the Geologists are trained to observe and record the world around us. The simple use of a hammer, clinometer compass, hand lens, GPS and notebook can help us to solve the mystery hidden within the rocks. Often, we click and use various photographs to unearth these mysteries. But do we really know how these photographs are taken? Or the proper use of a camera to take the best shots? Nowadays, with the advent of good mobile cameras, we click numerous photos during our field works but, if you notice carefully, most of those photos lack the basic requirements to be a good photograph. 

A camera is one of the most important tools for a geologist. When supported by proper knowledge of photography it can help us unravel the processes that shaped the landscape around us both at present and past times. Any geologist in the world needs to use a camera or a photograph for a better understanding of the processes going on and under the Earth’s surface. Even while using Google Earth, one is using a set of photos unknowingly to find features of their interest. So, as Geologists, we must know how things are working when someone is using a camera or a photograph.

I am not an expert in clicking photographs but I do understand the necessity of this valuable skill. So, here I am sharing my knowledge to make all my geologist friends aware of this valuable skill.

To be a useful photographer one must know a few things like how a camera works, how to compose the perfect frame, and a little bit of post-processing knowledge.

How a digital camera works:

During this technological bloom, no one around us uses those old-fashioned film cameras and that is why I am discussing about the digital camera only. Digital cameras look very much like ordinary film cameras but they work in a completely different way. When you press the shutter button to take a photograph with a digital camera, an aperture opens at the front of the camera and light streams in through the lens. So far, it's just the same as a film camera. From this point on, however, everything is different. There is no film on a digital camera. Instead, there is a piece of electronic equipment that captures the incoming light rays and turns them into electrical signals. This light detector is one of two types, either a charge-coupled device (CCD) or a CMOS image sensor.

If you've ever looked at a television screen close up, you will have noticed that the picture is made up of millions of tiny colored dots or squares called pixels. Laptops and  LCD computer screens also make up their images using pixels, although they are often much too small to see. In a television or computer screen, electronic equipment switches all these colored pixels on and off very quickly. Light from the screen travels out to your eyes and your brain is fooled into seeing a large, moving picture.

In a digital camera, exactly the opposite happens. Light from the thing you are photographing zooms into the camera lens. This incoming "picture" hits the image sensor chip, which breaks it up into millions of pixels. The sensor measures the color and brightness of each pixel and stores it as a number. Your digital photograph is effectively an enormously long string of numbers describing the exact details of each pixel it contains. Afterward, it is going to be a bit complex so let’s not go into that details and dive into the matter of the basic compositional rules a photographer must know.

How to compose the perfect frame:

There are various compositional set-ups for clicking a perfect photograph. Here, I will discuss the 5 most important rules of photography for a Geologist.

Rule 1: Fill the frame

Composition should help identify, emphasize, complement, isolate, or highlight the subject—not detract from it. The subject is likely the reason you captured a particular image, so if the composition works to bring the viewer’s attention to other parts of the frame, then you have successfully distracted the viewer from the primary purpose of the photograph. When it comes to how you frame the image around your subject, you will want the composition to work, sometimes covertly, to ensure that the audience knows what the subject is, and what the purpose of the photograph is.

Here you cannot un-see the beautiful folded layers running across the frame of this photograph as these folded layers are covering the whole frame of the photograph.

Rule 2: Positioning

How do you change what is already in front of you? Well, sometimes you can literally move something in a scene, but that is not always an option. So, you are left with two other possibilities: adjusting your composition through framing or by moving yourself or your gear. If you have a zoom lens, you can zoom in to isolate a portion of a scene or zoom out to add to the scene. If you have a fixed-focal-length lens, you will need to move your body to another position (if it’s feasible and safe to do so) to reconfigure the image. Now for a geologist, proper positioning is very important if you consider taking a photograph of a fold and want to classify it under Ramsay’s classification of folds. Because for a fold to be classified under Ramsay’s classification, one needs to take a photograph perpendicular to the hinge line of the fold, i.e., the Profile Section. A slight change in angle may fool you into a wrong understanding of the fold type.

 A class-3 fold of Ramsay Classification. Had it been taken from another angle then it would not be possible to visualize and classify it under Ramsay Classification. (Image source: Department of Geology, A.M.U Aligarh)

Rule 3: Rule of thirds

The rule of thirds is very simple. You divide the frame into 9 equal rectangles, 3 across and 3 down. Many camera manufacturers have actually included the capability to display this grid in live view mode. Check your camera’s manual to see how to turn on this feature. The idea is to place the important element(s) of the scene along one or more of the lines or where the lines intersect. We have a natural tendency to want to place the main subject in the middle. Placing it off center using the rule of thirds will more often than not lead to a more attractive composition.

Here the majority of the pillar is placed on the bottom left corner of the grid and on the Upper right-hand side the negative space perfectly makes it eye soothing. (Image source: elements.website)

Rule 4: The Eye’s Journey

The eye of the viewer will make its way through the frame of the photograph. The path is not always predictable, but how you arrange objects in the photograph or how you frame the scene, can serve as a guide for the eye’s pleasing journey through your image- a journey that allows the viewer to understand the meaning of your photograph.

Here these fractures in the ice are leading your eyes to the end of the horizon automatically. You do not have to put the effort to move your eyes from one point to another. (Image source: www.oreilly.com)

Rule 5: Elemental Concerns

Elements of composition are patterns, texture, symmetry, asymmetry, depth of field, lines, curves, frames, contrast, color, viewpoint, depth, negative space, filled space, foreground, background, visual tension, shapes. Use one or more of these elements to create a composition that works for your image. Of course, not all will be available at all times, but study them, recognize them, and employ them to help enrich your images.

 A classic photograph from the Talchir Needle Shale Formation of Gondwana Supergroup. Here one can easily see the needle-shaped texture of the formation. (Photo Credit: Arindam Biswas)

** A number of subsidiary things to think about:

Exposure: Proper exposure is very important to properly resolve all the elements of a photograph. So, one should know the proper use of 3 basic elements of a camera settings that are shutter speed, aperture and ISO.

Shadow: Now the shadow is the most important element of a photograph in both direct and indirect sense. In the case of high-resolution satellite images, the shadow helps us to determine the height of an object and the angle at which Sun’s rays are coming to the surface of the earth. Another importance is that shadow always captures more details than the overexposed part of a photograph, so, data can be extracted from those shadowed parts during post-processing.

Scale: For an Earth Scientist, it is always very important to define something on the basis of its dimension and here Scale plays its role. Without proper scale defining a particular geological feature will remain unclear. Let’s s understand this with an example.

In this photo you can see the fold. But can you tell me the dimension of this fold? Not possible, right? Then let’s have a look at the 2^nd photo below. (Image source: Geology Tweets)

Now as I have a scale (the human figure) of known dimensions so, I can easily have an idea of the dimensions of this fold. (Image source: Geology Tweets)

Post-processing photographs:

Don’t be afraid to process your photograph after you’ve taken it. Processing is required to enhance your photographs for the required purpose. This requirement can vary depending on the purpose. There are loads of simple photograph processing tools available, ranging from the hugely powerful Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom to simple tools that come free with Windows or Mac operating systems. Some things to try include:

•  If you couldn’t get the Rule of Thirds at the time, no worries – crop away until you have it later.

• Straighten the horizon. Nothing looks worse than a tilted horizon of a landscape photograph.

•  Correct the exposure, brightness, clarity, shadow, and saturation.

• Most important of all, critique your photographs. Think about what makes them good and bad. With practice, you’ll get better – an eye for composition can be learned, and it’s a rewarding skill to have. I’m learning and improving all the time, and I hope that these hints and tips will be useful to you.

Do you have a photography hint or tip to share? Please leave a comment and share ideas with everyone.